Many forms of can crushers are known in the prior art, some simple and some fairly complicated. The popularity of crushers results from the popularity of light-weight metal or like cans as containers for beverages, and it is typical that can dimensions have become relatively standardized in sizes including seven-ounce, twelve-ounce and sixteen-ounce, these being the sizes destined for return to the retailer, delivery to recycling centers and the like. Crushers offer the convenience of reducing the volume of returned cans to a fraction of the volume that would result if the cans retained their original dimensions.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,827,840 is typical of prior art relating to can crushers. In that patent, a horizontal crushing chamber receives a can and a lever-operated plunger compresses the can to a dimension enabling the can to be discharged through an opening dimensioned to allow passage of the crushed can.
Also in that patent, among other things, the cans are fed serially from a magazine but several drawbacks result from relatively complex structure, leading to elevated costs, difficult maintenance and such bulk as to make packaging and shipping inconvenient.
According to the present invention, these and other drawbacks are eliminated by the provision of a wall-mountable crusher that is simple and constructed of material having the characteristics of high strength and long life. Further, the design lends itself to knock-down shipping components that are easily assembled by the purchaser. A feature is the magazine that contains cans in serial mode for discharge one by one into the crushing chamber and for further discharge in crushed condition into a receptacle. A still further feature resides in the arrangement of parts providing for retention of the cans in the magazine during the crushing operation of a preceding can, the next can dropping into the crushing chamber upon retraction of the plunger to a position prior to the stroke on which it crushes the next can and so on. Yet another feature is the provision of a magazine selectively conditionable to handle cans of different dimensions.
A significant feature is that the crusher is provided as two units, the magazine being one unit and the crushing mechanism the other unit. By this feature, the magazine may be constructed of relatively light material since it takes no significant forces during operation of the device, while the crushing mechanism, which does by far the bulk of the work, can be made of heavier-duty material and can carry the pivot means for mounting the bell crank that operates the crushing plunger.
Other features relate to the ability of the crushing mechanism to adapt itself to handling individual cans at times and further to position cans that have been inadvertently dropped into the magazine in upright fashion.
These and other features and objects of the invention will appear as the disclosure progresses.